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Street artist Shepard Fairey ready to tag Detroit

He's creating a mural on Dan Gilbert-owned One Campus Martius, formerly called the Compuware Building. Fairey's residency shows how art is helping reinvent Detroit but also reveals the push-pull between underground art and commerce.

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So on Saturday afternoon the 45-year-old Fairey turned his attention to making his smaller mural in the nearby Belt, the art-filled alley in the middle of the Z parking garage.
Rob Widdis, Special to the Free Press

Fairey described the image as “positive” and “decorative,” and said Bedrock officials chose the less challenging of the two potential designs he submitted for approval.
Rob Widdis, Special to the Free Press

In addition to the two murals, Fairey will also be painting five temporary works to be installed in the Belt and will present a show, “Printed Matters,” at the Libary Street Collective from May 22-Aug. 15.
Rob Widdis, Special to the Free Press

Editor's note: This story has been updated to include information that Bedrock Real Estate Services, Meridian Health and Library Street Collective co-commissioned the Shepard Fairey mural and that Bedrock and Meridian co-own the One Campus Martius building.

When you make art on the sides of buildings and in alleys, you always have to be ready to improvise.

On his first day in Detroit, rain kept the famed Los Angeles-based street artist Shepard Fairey from working on his massive mural on the side of One Campus Martius, formerly known as the Compuware Building. So on Saturday afternoon the 45-year-old Fairey turned his attention to making a smaller mural in the nearby Belt, the art-filled alley in the middle of the Z parking garage.

Fairey and several assistants worked with razors, stencils, spray paint and adhesive. An ominous environmental theme seemed to be emerging in graphic black-and-white images of lotus patterns, skulls, an oil rig and hints of flames.

(Photo: Rob Widdis Special to the Detroit Free Press)

Of medium build with a cherubic face, Fairey wore a graffiti artist's uniform of sneakers, blue jeans and a black-T shirt featuring one of his own designs. His fame attracted a two-man film crew, a small cadre of fans and other onlookers Saturday, some tipped to his presence by social media.

Fairey, who works all over the world, was excited just to get started on his jam-packed nine-day Detroit residency.

"Once I'm doing the work, it's like good therapy. It's really a blue-collar endeavor at this point. With large-scale projects like these, the creative decisions have been all mapped out. Now it's all execution."

Fairey's arrival opens a new chapter in downtown Detroit's growing profile as a hotbed of mural activity. He is the best known of the roughly three dozen artists from around the country who have come to the city to create officially sanctioned pieces of street art in the past two years. Fairey's One Campus Martius mural — at 184-feet-by-60-feet the largest work Fairey has ever done — promises to be a signature piece of public art in the city.

(Photo: Rob Widdis Special to the Detroit Free Press)

At the same time, Fairey's work — commissioned by Dan Gilbert's Bedrock Real Estate Services, Meridian Health and Library Street Collective — offers a reminder of the push-pull between underground art and highly visible commerce. (Bedrock and Meridian co-own the One Campus Martius building.)

For many observers the new wave of public murals represents another example of the way art and culture are playing a key role in reviving the city, attracting visitors and injecting bursts of optimism, energy and creativity into the city that run parallel to commercial development.

"I want to make Detroit an art mecca," said Elysia Borowy-Reeder, executive director of the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit. "I think it could be such a powerful draw internationally. It's already starting, but it could be much bigger. It will take artists as well-known as Shepard Fairey, who have a name, to do big-scale projects. Art and cultural tourism is huge, and Detroit is well-positioned for that."

Art as destination

A partnership between Bedrock and the downtown Library Street Collective gallery brought Fairey to town. The marriage is also driving much of the mural work in the city's core, where Gilbert owns dozens of buildings. Bedrock pay the bills and the gallery provides artistic expertise and connections. Their joint public art projects include the Z parking structure, an explosion of energy and color thanks to more than two dozen murals, as well as the Belt.

Bedrock recently announced that the New York artists known as How & Nosm will create what the company says will be the world's tallest mural — 351 feet high and 80 feet wide — on the side of Gilbert's First National Building. There's also the six-story painting of colorful, interlocking shapes on the Madison Building by Alex Brewer, known as HENSE.

"If you create these destinations and art through your development it really attracts people to create communities and social environments around it, which is huge for the city," said Bedrock executive vice president Dan Mullen, who oversees many of the company's public art projects. "We love to watch people walk by and take pictures next to the artwork. It's important to us."

Mullen declined to say how much Bedrock has paid for public art, but said it was a substantial investment.

Fairey's One Campus Martius piece will include many of the artist's signature motifs — lotus patterns, his "Obey" logo, a peace sign. The red-and-cream palette is visible now, as well as a few stenciled images at the top. Fairey described the image as "positive" and "decorative," and said Bedrock officials chose the less challenging of the two potential designs he submitted for approval.

"When somebody provides you with an 18-story surface, it's hard to argue with their opinion," he said. "It's their building."

In addition to the two murals, Fairey also will be painting five temporary works to be installed in the Belt and presenting a show, "Printed Matters," at the Library Street Collective from May 22 to Aug. 15.

Bedrock's public art program is piggybacking on Detroit's reputation as a haven for local and national street artists. Dating back decades, graffiti artists have typically worked illegally, tagging abandoned buildings, freeways, light poles and more. The Grand River corridor, for example, is a wonderland of colorful graffiti, though what some people see as art, others see as eyesores and simply vandalism.

Fairey's residency in the city also opens a window on the layered complexities of street art. The form has always existed at the uneasy intersection of artistic expression, urban creativity and vandalism. Like many street artists, Fairey's authenticity derives from his career of working at the margins of the law, tagging buildings without permission. These days he spends more time working within the mainstream, cashing the checks of patrons like Gilbert.

Meanwhile, Gilbert has also aggressively gone after those responsible for tagging his buildings with unwanted graffiti, including the well-publicized dustup over three suburban teens arrested for defacing Gilbert-owned property.

Fairey, who was last in Detroit in the early 2000s, when he tagged public and private spaces without permission, is well aware of the tension, and he said it was considered a coup to get to make work that at times might be at odds with other aspects of a company's profile.

"I don't think it's hypocritical for me, because I've always espoused what I call the inside-outside strategy," said Fairey. "I still do stuff on the street without permission. I'll be doing stuff on the street when I'm in Detroit. But the idea of being able to infiltrate the system on its own terms and make things better from within is something I've always believed in."

Fairey's admission that he'll be tagging property without permission raises some sticky questions for Bedrock officials: How would the company respond if another artist of stature tagged a Bedrock building without authorization? What would Bedrock say to a fellow business owner who might complain should Fairey paint on their building?

"I definitely do not promote any unsanctioned work," said Mullen. "I have no idea what his plans are, and I have not talked to him about his plans other than the work he's doing for us. ...

"When an artist like Shepard or Banksy goes out and does something overnight, there's something mysterious about waking up to this beautiful masterpiece on the side of a wall somewhere, and you're like, 'How did that get there: Who did it? When did he come in? When did he leave?' Stuff like that is cool, but I don't promote that on somebody else's building when they might not like it."

Certainly, Fairey's cachet energized the onlookers Saturday. Friends Shannon Smith and Patience Wright said the arts in general were putting Detroit on the national radar, and stars like Fairey were adding to the city's luster. "We feel fortunate that we're here to take advantage of it," said Smith.